The local business landscape was thrown in to disarray once again with the announcement, and then extension of, a lockdown of regional Australia. Businesses were forced to swiftly adapt or close their doors temporarily. The Mudgee Guardian spoke with a handful of businesses as well as chamber presidents as part of a series putting a spotlight on businesses in the region.

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Speaking with the Mudgee Guardian on Friday 19 August, Bill Murphy of Gulgong's Business Chamber said the impression he gets from local businesses is that they're doing it tough.

"A lot of them have chosen to just closed down for the rest of this week... A lot of them are thinking it's time to probably stay closed for the following week," he said.

"Like Mudgee, we've had a couple of businesses forced to close because people needed to go and get tests and are still awaiting those results."

However, similarly to Mudgee, some businesses that have been able to quickly pivot to a delivery-based model have been able to survive and in some cases, thrive. The Mudgee Guardian has been collecting information on local businesses online that are still open and what they offer. More information is at our website.

"Gulgong is mostly made up of outlets with service customers with coffee and takeaway. The takeaway has taken off really well for the business that have done them," Bill said. "For the ones that are closed, they are really the ones that need that passing foot trade. The Gallery Gulgong, for example, that's a really tough one because they sell giftware and so on, and even though we've got Father's Day coming up, it's just not worth opening the doors and having having staff present for the time being.

"I think the extension of the lockdown period for regional areas is making consumers really consider what is essential for them to go out and purchase now. So it's a really bit of a a mixed bag. But I mean, the adaptability I find of both Mudgee and Gulgong has been extraordinary."

Licensee of Gulgong Post Office Scott Etherington said while some aspects of the businesses have slowed, when it comes to package delivery, they've never been busier.

"We [have] seen the incredible progression of online sales, which has matched the lock downs pretty well, but never returned to previous levels," he said.

The best way to give an idea of how much packages have become a focus, was to talk vehicles.

"When I bought the business in 2016 we had a little Citroen van. That was our parcel delivery van. We've last in June this year. So we replaced that three years ago with a Hyundai iLoad which was significantly larger," Scott said.

"In June of this year, we replaced that with a LDV Deliver Nine, which is significantly bigger again, in fact you can nearly fit the original van inside it."

Not only that, interestingly, Scott said the size of the parcels was also growing.

"So in rural and regional areas, because we don't have access to the retail outlets that they do in metro areas, people were buying bigger things," he said.

"Since people are getting more confident with their online shopping, the sky's the limit. We're getting fridges come through. We're getting whole furniture sets and even whole barbecue settings coming through."

Scott said that they are receiving roughly five tons of mail five days a week at the Gulgong store with some deliveries topping 13 tons, all unloaded by hand thanks to the logistics of the small heritage building.

Mudgee Business Chamber President Ali Broinowski agreed times were tough, and said the Mudgee Business Chamber was doing what it can to assist local businesses weather the storm. One way has been to educate businesses owners about how and where to access government grants.

"I think I think a lot of people are really hurting this time," she said.

"We are trying to be really active and engaged and share information as soon as we can get it. Because obviously, the situation was changing really rapidly there.

"With applying for grants, I think they say: 'oh, no, no, it's going to be super easy.' And you go 'well, actually, it's really not.' So we're trying to collate some information about how people are getting on with it. And we will then feed that back through to business to South Wales.

Bill Murphy said speaking with hotels around Gulgong, he isn't sensing too much negativity around the impact to business, so he's confident the Mudgee region can come out the other side stronger than before. "A couple of hotels have said to me, 'yeah doom and gloom at the moment, but geez, we've had a good nine to 12 months so far', he said.

"So there's no negativity, there's no one that I've spoken to that's talking [about] having a having to close the doors forever. Certainly, there's that negativity around what to do tomorrow. But that's not a long term - that's not a definitive defeat.

"I've found that with a lot of Mudgee businesses I've actually spoke to as the last week as well."